This pic shared by an IFS officer has spooked people. Can you guess what it is?
The picture shared online attracted many eyeballs and a flurry of comments from netizens.
Nature is beautiful, but at times, it can be scary too. And this particular photo that an IFS officer tweeted aptly proves that. It features a type of fungus that appears like a giant foot, having a bluish-grey tint, peeping out from beneath a log of wood. The unusual share that looks like a scene straight out of a horror film soon attracted netizens’ attention and spooked many of them.
“Can you guess what this is????” read the caption of the picture tweeted by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Samrat Gowda. He even replied to his own tweet and shared that it is a kind of fungus. He added, “This is Xylaria polymorpha, a fungus commonly known as dead man’s fingers.”
According to First Nature journal, Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as Dead Man’s Fingers, appears at the base of ‘beechwood stumps’ and ‘buried hardwoods’ all year round. The publication further adds that the fungus ‘arises in tufts of three to six fingers’ and is ‘often bent’, thereby appearing like ‘arthritic black knuckles.’ It is commonly found in Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and several parts of North America.
Take a look at the IFS officer’s tweets below:
Since being shared on January 10, the tweet has raked up more than 2.1 lakh views. It has also received over 1,300 likes and close to 100 retweets. The scary share has even prompted many to post several comments.
Here’s how people reacted to the picture shared by the IFS officer:
While many posted that the image featured mushrooms, others shared that it freaked them out. Some even associated the picture with protagonists of horror films such as Bhool Bhulaiyaa.
